Love, romance, and tragedy fill Oratorio Society program

The Oratorio Society will take the stage May 30 and 31 at the Estes Park High School. (Courtesy Photo / Trail-Gazette)

Rehearsals are underway for the May 30 and 31 performances. (Courtesy Photo / Trail-Gazette)

It's spring! Leaves are popping out on the aspens, flowers are blooming, and love is in the air. It's the perfect time for romance set to music. In the French play L'Arlesienne, a young man, named Frederi, falls madly in love with a girl from Arles. He reads her letters night and day. But it's a romance destined for disaster. The young man learns his love interest has been the mistress of another for two years. Frederi becomes despondent and his wealthy parents want him to end the matchup. He does. He jumps to his death from a balcony.

The next Oratorio production is May 30 and 31 at the high school. (Courtesy Photo / Trail-Gazette)

Curiously, the object of his affection is never seen in the play. The play was first staged Oct. 1, 1872 but ran for only 21 performances. It had been a last-minute replacement for another play that was banned by the censors and the audience didn't care much for the replacement. Alphonse Daudet's play may have died, but the incidental music Georges Bizet composed to accompany the play lives on.

Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suites 1 & 2 is one of two masterworks to be performed by the Oratorio Society of Estes Park on Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 31 at 2 p.m. in the Estes Park High School Auditorium. The Bizet work features many of the orchestra's finest players, including flautist Lynette Johnson and four French horn players.

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The other masterwork on the program is a concert version of Henry Purcell's English baroque opera Dido & Aeneas. It's another love story marred by tragedy. Dido, the Queen of Carthage, falls in love with the young Trojan prince, Aeneas. But a sorceress and some witches enter the picture and Aeneas abandons Queen Dido. Alas, she decides she must die. Oh, the power love possesses over the human spirit.

Music director Kathy Bowers says, "there are some sad tales being told by the performers, but both the English Baroque and French Romantic scores are suffused with beautiful music reflecting all sorts of moods: nobility, cheerfulness, deception, sadness, a complete gamut of emotions to tickle your ears."

Soloists for the Purcell include Valerie Dascoli as Dido, Scott Anderson as Aeneas, Sandi Engelhorn as Belinda, Anna Baker as the Second Woman, Denise Stookesberry, Melissa Westover, and Jane Stuart as the Sorceress and two Witches, Bob Gunn as the Spirit, and Steve Pearson as the Sailor. In true Greek chorus fashion, the OSEP choir takes on the role of friends, bystanders, evildoers, and sailors.

Admission to the Oratorio Society's performance is free. A free-will offering will be taken and all donations are cheerfully received and greatly appreciated. There will be a reception in the commons area after the Saturday concert.

For further information, go to osep.info or call Kathy Bowers at 970-586-5193. OSEP is funded in part by grants from The Estes Park Rotary Club Foundation, the Town of Estes Park, the Estes Park Community Thrift Shop, and the Northern Colorado Community Foundation.

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